


Crossed Signals

by geekyjez



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Crushes, F/M, Fade Kiss, Misunderstandings, Mixed Signals, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-22
Updated: 2015-01-22
Packaged: 2018-03-08 14:29:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3212540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geekyjez/pseuds/geekyjez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt fic. Solas has been watching Katwynne Traevelyan for months now and his attention hasn’t slipped her notice. When he takes her back to Haven, she decides it's time to confront him about the crush he so obviously is harboring for her…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crossed Signals

**Author's Note:**

> _This is probably as close to Trevelyan/Solas as I am going to get. Strangely enough, I consider this canon for Katwynne’s storyline. Mostly because she was my second play through and I squirmed through every encounter with Solas where I couldn’t flirt with him._

Honestly, it reminded her of being back in the Circle.

Romance was never something one could openly pursue in the Circle at Ostwick. The Templars had strict rules about keeping the mages from fraternizing in order to prevent them from becoming intimate. There was always an unspoken understanding that their keepers didn’t want them breeding—to spread the “curse” on and create more mages that they would have to trouble themselves with confining.

But that didn’t mean it never happened.

In the Circle, you had to be subtle. Flirtation was expressed in extended glances, in helpful assistance, in quiet conversations where subtext meant more than the words being said. Making excuses to spend more time with you was one of the key giveaways that someone was interested romantically. They would be quick to volunteer to help you sort out the tomes in the library or dust off the neglected corners of the storage rooms. Each of these tasks increased the possibility that you could be left alone together – a chance for a stolen kiss or caress, a moment to confess all the things you had been desperately wanting to say.

Solas had been behaving that way for weeks.

Katwynne felt his eyes on her more often than not. He watched her attentively as she moved through Haven, his unwavering attention staying focused on her when they travelled together. She saw this as an expression of his shy fascination and it made her blush, a secretive smile threatening to form on her lips whenever she knew he was looking at her. He reminded her of an elf she knew in the Circle, though physically they were markedly different. The mage she had known was sweet on her for months, always finding reasons to spend time with her, yet still too afraid to act when they would have a few moments alone together. Solas had been much the same – insisting that he accompany her whenever she left to roam the southlands of Thedas. Even though he spoke very little to Kat, save for the few times she could draw him out with questions about magic and the Fade, she could recognize his behavior for what it was.

The idea of him harboring a crush on her made her stomach flutter.

She’d tried to help it along. She told him she’d like to get to know him better, but her questions were usually met with cautious suspicion and short answers, along with reassurances that there was nothing particularly noteworthy to discuss concerning his life. She would ask him to pick herbs with her outside of camp, to which he would quietly agree. Despite being alone together, out in the woods, out where there was privacy, he never did anything but attend to the task. She wondered if she should say something. But what would she say? Should she come right out with it? Tell him she knew he was interested? Tell him she found him attractive? She couldn’t just do that, could she?

She was never really any good at this sort of thing.

When he took her back to Haven, the pair of them strolling quietly through the abandoned village, she felt that same apprehensive tingling return to her stomach. She followed him closely as he led their small tour of the place, showing her the spot where he had watched over her unconscious form, explaining how he’d worked to keep the anchor from killing her.

“You were a mystery.” He said, turning his gaze to her. “You still are.” Her cheeks grew warm and she cast her eyes down, nervously rubbing the back of her neck. “I ran every test I could imagine. Searched the Fade – yet found nothing. Cassandra suspected duplicity. She threatened to have me executed as an apostate if I didn’t produce results.”

Katwynne shrugged. “She’s kind of like that with everyone, I guess.”

Solas smiled, laughing and she couldn’t help but grin. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d made him laugh and the sound rippled through her, making her feel giddy. He watched her a moment before turning, gesturing for her to follow. As they exited the Chantry, he explained how hopeless he had felt, how convinced he was that she would never wake up. His concern for her urged her further, made her draw her step closer to his as he told her of his plans to leave, to try and buy himself some time to figure out how to heal the torn sky. His eyes fell to hers again, a warm smile on his face. “It seems you hold the key to our salvation.” He said softly. “You had sealed that rift with a gesture and right then, I felt the whole world change.”

“Felt the whole world change?” She murmured.

He shrugged, but his smile did not waver. “A figure of speech.”

“I’m aware of the metaphor,” she said, shyly bringing her gaze to meet his. Her face felt hot, her heart skipping in her chest. It was obvious, so plainly obvious in the way he was looking at her, the way he was speaking to her – it was clear that he fancied her. The weeks of being close, of staying by her side, of watching her, of missed opportunities to finally say something. He gave her a curious look, opened his mouth to speak again, but she steadied her resolve. She moved forward, drawing his chin with her hand, meeting his lips with her own. She felt him stiffen in surprise, a small muffled sound escaping him, swallowed by her kiss.

It only took a matter of seconds for her to realize he wasn’t kissing her back.

She pulled away slowly. His eyes narrowed, searching her face as his brow tightened. She could tell in that instant she had been wrong. Completely wrong. Completely, horribly, stupidly wrong. He wasn’t harboring some secret affection for her, not from the look of baffled confusion that he wore now. She felt sick, mortified, her cheeks now burning and not from the maidenly blush she’d been wearing earlier.

_Nug-humping knicker-weasels, I am a moron._

She increased the distance between them quickly, twisting her fingers as her hands gripped themselves nervously. “Sorry. I’m… I’m sorry.” She spat, lowering her eyes. “I thought that… No, actually. No. Nevermind. It’s not important. I… I’m just…”

Solas watched her wordlessly as her stammering fell silent. Part of her desperately wanted him to speak, to say something, anything instead of just standing there and staring at her. On the other hand, she didn’t know what he could possibly say that would not make her feel even more foolish than she already did.

“Trevelyan,” he began cautiously and already her stomach was sinking, “I am afraid you have gotten the wrong impression of me.”

“Yeah. Yes. I mean…” She let out a small huff, a sound that tried to come off as a light laugh but strangled awkwardly in her throat. “Clearly.”

“I apologize if I have-”

“No. No, no. Don’t. Just…” She shook her head, keeping her eyes firmly on the ground. “You’re fine. It was… I was… ” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Maker is there any possibility we can just pretend this never happened?”

She could hear him laugh softly. It wasn’t intended as a cruelty, but she shuddered nonetheless. “If that is your preference. If it is any consolation, it is not unheard of for the Fade to present certain emotional side effects. It can leave the dreamer prone to impulsivity.”

She frowned, opening her eyes to peer at him. “Wait… what? Did you say the…The Fade?”

His smile was subtle. “Where did you think we were?”

She turned her head, scanning her surroundings, truly seeing them for the first time. It _was_ Haven, but it was as it had been in her memory of it when she first arrived. It wasn’t half-burnt and buried under an avalanche. How had she not noticed that? It hadn’t appeared important to her before. She simply accepted that they were in Haven, yet even now could not remember how they had gotten there. She had spoken to Solas, had gone to her quarters and then…

“This is a dream.” She murmured before letting out a relieved sigh, rubbing her hand along her brow. “Thank the Maker this isn’t real.”

He looked at her, his expression strained. _Is that pity in his eyes? Maker, that makes it so much worse._ “You are indeed dreaming. But that does not make this exchange any less real.”

_Dear Blessed Andraste, please just split the ground open now and swallow me whole._

He cleared his throat, his tone as cool and calm and _professional_ as it ever was as he continued. “We should not linger here. It is best we continue this conversation after you _wake up._ ”

The words seemed to shove, to push, and she felt her eyes opening with a sudden start. She sat up, inhaling quickly as she gripped her bed sheets.

She was in her quarters again.

She let herself fall back onto the pillows, burying her face in her hands, her cheeks still just as hot with embarrassment as they had felt in the dream.

She really didn’t know how flirting worked outside of the Circle.

**Author's Note:**

> _Poor Katwynne. For as smart as she is, her time in the Circle left her pretty sheltered when it comes to certain aspects of social interaction. Her love life is not a complete failure however - assuming that she and Cullen can figure out how to stop stammering at each other._
> 
>  
> 
> _Interestingly, both Isii and Katwynne misinterpret Solas’s interest in staying close to them as him being romantically interested - though Katwynne feels far more certain in that assumption than Isii ever was. In my HC, he goes out of his way to try and watch over the Herald, given that they are a mortal that can now manipulate the power that was originally his own. It is a potentially dangerous situation and needs to be monitored closely to make certain the power of the orb is not abused._


End file.
